


What If

by stargazinggirl773



Category: Never Back Down (2008 2011)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 03:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17821397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargazinggirl773/pseuds/stargazinggirl773
Summary: Bathroom scene reimagined.





	What If

**Author's Note:**

> can't get them out of my head and there's not enough fics so this is a last resort? ps never said i knew mma/realistic fight moves ;)

The bathroom tile is cold beneath his skin, and Jake can barely concentrate as Ryan speaks quietly but intently from above, promises and taunts almost whispered, as if Ryan’s foot on his throat isn’t enough. Being able to stare up into Ryan’s eyes is strangely intimate, which he guesses isn’t what Ryan had intended.

Murmurs from outside drift through the door and Jake wonders how long they have left until someone discovered them. These thoughts are interrupted by more pressing matters as Ryan pushes down harder, as if sensing Jake’s wandering mind, and his throat works to breathe. Jake’s hands automatically tighten in another futile attempt to dislodge Ryan, and he can hear his own rasping breaths grow more frantic. 

“... Beat Down, that’s where we’ll get it on. That’s where this ends…” Ryan is saying, but Jake can’t focus. His jaw clenched tight in frustration.

Jake tilts his head back and closes his eyes. He frantically tries to think past the burn in his lungs to all of his training with Jean Roqua. He knows he hasn’t been training nearly as long as Ryan, and if there’s anything that he can remember from the gym, it’s that there’s always a way out of every hold if you can find it.

Jake forces his fingers to loosen on the offending Nike shoe, and when he opens his eyes he can see clearly. Using the element of surprise to his advantage, Jake extends his arms quickly and grabs Ryan before he can pull away. Jake pulls Ryan down and to the side using his grip on his shoulders, letting gravity do the work, and pushing at the bend in his knee simultaneously. As Ryan falls to to the side, Jake uses the momentum to pull himself up and switch their positions. The resulting scuffle is violent but short, and Jake manages to pin one of Ryan’s arms behind his back, holding the other down by the wrist. 

Ryan’s eyes are slightly widened and his mouth partly opened, while Jake’s narrow dangerously. He straddles Ryan’s hips firmly to keep from being bucked off and leans in. 

His teeth are just beginning to bare and fingers beginning to tighten, to dig into skin, when he stops short. Ryan’s on his back, vulnerable and basically helpless, though he takes care not to show it. Pursed the pursed lips and defiantly raised chin, Jake can see fear. 

Jake sees himself through Ryan’s eyes, and doesn’t like the boy he sees, full of rage and anger and a need for revenge. 

Jake shifts, preparing to get up and leave, when he stops again. They’re alone. No Eric or Aaron or Ben or anyone else in Ryan’s gang. This is his chance, he realizes. His one opportunity to talk some sense into Ryan, to get through those blue, blue eyes.

And maybe he’ll listen. 

Most likely he won’t, in fact it's a million to one but, well, Jake decides it’s worth a shot. 

Letting some of his previous emotion fuel his blood with purpose and his eyes with conviction, Jake looks at Ryan

“Do you really think think that fighting, the Beat Down- any of that sort of stuff is gonna get you anywhere, Ryan?” Jake asks, wincing at the way his voice cracks at the end. 

Ryan doesn’t so much as twitch, but Jake plows on. 

He tightens his hold on Ryan’s wrist. “You want fame, you want attention? Then be a movie star. All of this shit is fucked up and stupid, and I’m done with it. Aren’t you?”

Jake takes a moment to let that sink in, or rather stare at Ryan’s blank face for enough time for his heart to, strangely, begin to hurt. Then he pushes himself up and turns away, starting towards the door and trying to ignore that sinking feeling in his gut. 

Jake doesn’t hear Ryan get up, so when a strong hand falls on his shoulder it takes his brain a second to catch up, and by that time he’s shoved against the wall with Ryan’s blazing eyes centerimeters from his own. Ryan closes the distance slowly, so that even though Jake can see what’s coming from a mile away, he can only stare wide eyed. When there's only a millimeter of space left between them they fall closed. 

The first thing Jake registers is the softness of Ryan’s lips, not chapped like his own, and the feeling of Ryan’s eyelashes against his cheek. He brushes his mouth softly against Jake, a sharp contrast to his hand still clenched down on the muscles of Jake’s shoulder. 

And this is… well it’s not entirely that unexpected. There has always been something else in between them, shimmering on the edges of the anger and confusion. That it would emerge, that either of them would actually let it, had been the real question, Jake supposes. Trust Ryan to take matters into his own hands. 

What is unexpected, however, is the gentleness of the kiss, of the movements of Ryan’s body against his own. It isn’t rough or physical, or any of the characteristics Jake had associated with… this. 

Jake supposes that he really should reflect on this existential crises later, when his heart isn’t going a hundred miles a minute.

Ryan is still keeping it slow, and his hand has left Jake’s shoulder to cradle his head, thumb lightly tracing his jawline. But Jake isn’t a virgin, and he doesn’t quite have the self control that Ryan has.  
Jake opens his mouth slightly, and slips his tongue into Ryan’s own. He wraps his arms around Ryan’s back, allowing his fingers to trace the hard muscle before pulling him closer. Ryan stumbles into Jake, his thigh slotting between Jakes’, letting him feel Ryan’s hard on and. Fuck, that’s definitely different from a girl.

They break apart to breathe and Jake gets a second to stare at Ryan before the door swings open. 

Ryan pushes off of the wall and Jake uses the time to flee through the gap left , brushing the shoulder of a freckled boy staring opened mouth at them. 

The sun is too bright outside, the noise too loud. Jake’s limping home when Max pulls up next to him.


End file.
